The term Financial Planning has been broadly and loosely applied to a wide range of advisory services and financial product sales efforts. We use the definition established by the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC), the foremost authority for the financial planning profession in Canada that licenses the CFP marks.

Financial planning is a SIX STEP process that determines how you can best meet your life goals through the proper management of your financial affairs.The financial planning process for Certified Financial Planner professionals involves the following:

What does it mean to be a Certified Financial Planner® (CFP)?

Since financial planning is not regulated in most Canadian provinces, anyone can call themselves a “financial planner”; but not everyone who refers to themselves as a planner is indeed qualified. In the absence of government regulation, Canadians seeking competent and ethical financial planning services should look for the CFP mark. CFP certification provides assurance that the planner is committed to internationally-recognized professional standards of competence, ethics and practice as set and enforced in Canada by FPSC.

CFP professionals are also held to ongoing rigorous standards through FPSC’s continuing education requirements and enforcement processes.

Why is it important for an individual to work with a CFP professional?“In order for a financial adviser to address a family’s investment, insurance, tax, estate planning, and retirement planning needs, a financial adviser must be able to demonstrate that they have the expertise, knowledge, commitment and higher standard of trust. A financial adviser who is a CFP Professional, has successfully combined years of industry experience with several hours of rigorous exams, annual continued education requirements and balanced this with the emotional elements inherit with wealth planning. By putting clients’ interests first, we can get to the heart of the matter” – Josephine DeLauretis